Launched ten years ago by Brian Singer, a San Francisco designer, the 1000 Journals Project sent blank journals with cover designs by a variety of emerging and well-known artists into the world with an open invitation to add writing, art, poetry, and musings to each journal and pass it along. The journals have traveled by air, sea, and land throughout the United States and forty other countries, stitching together a truly global village and inspiring unparalleled public dialogue.
Twelve of the original journals are now on view at the Skirball, with computer kiosks linking to online versions of many others. The exhibition will also expand the next generation of the project, called 1001 Journals. A new set of journals with cover designs by ten Los Angeles-based artists including Clement Hanami, Mel Kadel, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Sandy Rodriguez, and Jackie Terrell, were circulated to community partners across the city and returned to the Skirball for gallery display. Every visitor now has the opportunity to contribute to a journal, joining in a unique initiative that encourages people of all ages to explore their personal creativity and to stimulate collaboration and understanding, even among strangers. Art materials are provided so that participants can add their own expressions to the journals-before these, too, are sent on their way to destinations unknown.